Parlor stall



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 L J. 1L.

PARLOR STALL C. A. THOMAS Z6! @59j e Oct. 3i, i950 Filed Feb. la,l 1944 6%@ @7F27 Wwf/Q Oct. 31, 1950 c. A. THoMAs 2,528,255

PARLOR STALL Oct. 3l, 1950 c. A. THOMAS 2,528,255

PARLOR STALL Filed Feb. 18, 1944 l@Sh'eaets-Shee'c 3 JfaL'Q j? Af A. V56? l Batented y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE t PARZRSQSELLL chester- A. Thomas, crystal Lake, in., ssignor to Babsonf'Bros Co., 'a corporation of Illinois Application February 18, 1944;- Serial No'. 5225883 This invention relates to `"a `parlor stall, and more particularly 'to an improved construction and arrangement for milking parlors and the Stalls Used therein.

A@ne e'ature of' this invention is thatit provides 'an `improved stall for' housing a cow or father animal being milked; another feature of Lthis lnventionvis r"that it is .provided with a mov- *j ble part in one side of the stall adjacent the judder of the animal to facilitate operation on jsuch uddneriwithout danger to the operator; and fstilluarijther feature of this invention is the prol-v1slon or a stall which is 'substantially narrower at its ends than in its middle, witnbotn the fel-ifrance and exit vgates being in one side of such fastall, and at least the end portions of these gates being inwardly curved. Other features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following specification and the drawings,

in which: y Figure 1 is an elevational view, from the opertors side, of an arrangement embodying" this invention, with the outline of a cow indicated in the stall; Figure 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view of a portion of the stall shown in Figure i,

witna movable part in open position; Figure 3 is an elevational view of such stall from the cow alley side; Figure 4 is an end elevational View, partly in section. looking from the left of Figure lrFigure 5 is atop plan view, with the gates being shown .in closed position in solid lines and in openposition in dotted lines; and Figure 6 is a horifo'ntal sectional view along the line 6-6 of Figure i, with the outline of a cow indicated therein.

Modern dairies 'with herds of any appreciable site are tending to employ milking parlors for the milking. Such a parlor comprises a group of stalls which are intendedto house the animal only during the milking period, generally termed parlor stalls to ydistinguish them from the conyentonal stalls in* the dairy barn. Such a parlor is usually a separate'room at one end of the dairy barn,V or a separate building adjacent the regular barn or barns, as the case may be. Instead of vmilking the cows successively while they remain in their regular stalls, they are freed from such stalls and driven into the milking parlor. The arrangement is generally such that there is a cowvall'ey on one side of the row of parlor stalls and an' operators alley Aon the other side. They cows enter at one end of their alley, go into the parlor'st'alls, are milked, and leave the other end of the alley to return to their regularstalls in the Vdairy barn. Such anar'rang'eme'ntfaciltatesiY.

72 Claims. (Cl. 119-27) the highest degree of sanitation, prevents Vdisturbance of the other cowsk not being 'milked until later, and enables one operator to milk a larger number of cows with less exertion.

Referring now more particularly to'the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, the stall is shown-as comprising four main corner posts I0ad connectedby longitudinal and transverse pipe-members, the longitudinal pipe'mernbers on the side of the stall facing the operator being here identified as I Ia-'-'c. The space between the'posts Illa and Illb on the one hand, and Ic and Id on the other hand, are closed by sheet metal partition elements here identified as Iza and I2b. Sheet metal splash panels I 3d and I3?) are provided Yat the 'front and back on the operators side of the stall; and a troughld at thej forward end of thest'all is adapted to hold feed intended to occupy the 'cows attention during milking.

As may be best seen in Figure 1', the oor of the operators alley, here identified as I5, is substantially-below the floor I6 which supports thecow, these different height floors being adjalcent each other on the operators side and held in proper relationby a vertical wall here identied as I'I. rIn practice -Such wall would be of concrete, and would extend up slightly above the level of the stall floor I6 to form a curb here identified as I'la, with slightly higher end portions meeting the splash guards I3.

I prefer, for reasons which will be apparent shortly hereafter, to have the operators rfloor I5 betweeny 21/2 and 3 feet below the'level of the stall Y floor I E, kthis latter normally being at the vsame level as the floor of the cow alley. Also, I prefer to have the lowermost longitudinal member, here identified asl IIa, at about the same height as the under side of the cow, as for example about 2 feet 4 inches above the stall floor I5; andV to have the longitudinal member IIb higher than the normal height of an operator standing on therfloor I5, as-for example 1 foot 3 inches above the member IIa. The top longitudinal member IIc may be any convenient height slightly above the normal rheight of aA cow, as for example 1 foot 6 inches above the member IIb. No vertical members extend 'to the floor from the longitudinal member IIa, this being supported by its connection to the end posts Illaancl I Dd," and being braced by upwardly extending pipe membershere'identi'led as Ia'and I8b. l

While a suspended milker does a very clean 'and complte 'milking job; some cows have to be Stripped bJ'By by hand after the mechanical milking, and this has heretofore involved considerable danger in milking parlors of conventional design. It is necessary to have the lowermost longitudinal member, as the member IIa here, at about the height of the under side of the cow, rather than up near the top of her head, to prevent the cow accidentally falling out of the stall into the operators alley, kneeling and rolling out from under this longitudinal member, and the like. Moreover, the cows sometimes shift over to the far side of the stall and render it difflcult for an operator easily to reach the udder to strip it by hand. This has resulted in the operator frequently ducking down and sticking his head and shoulders under and up beyond the lowermost longitudinal member (with his head lying between such member and the cows body) to perform the stripping. Then if the cow surges back, or kicks, the operator may have his face and head badly smashed. I have provided an arrangement which ensures proper housing of the cow, and yet completely obviates this danger, by providing a movable part IIa adapted to be moved back to provide an opening adjacent the udder of the cow facilitating stripping or other operations on such udder. This may be best seen in Figures 1 and 2, the movable part I I a being shown in closed position in Figure 1 and inV open position in Figure 2 Such movable part is here shown as a rod adapted to telescope within the right-hand part of the pipe member IIa as shown in Figure 2. When the part is in such open position, an opening is provided bounded on the top by the pipe member I Ib and on the sides by the vertical pipe members ISa and I8b. Since the longitudinal pipe member IIb is above the height of the normal operator when he is standing on the floor I5l (preferably from 6 to 61/2 feet above such floor) and the vertical pipes I8a and |819 are substantially spaced (preferably 2 feet or more), an opening is provided adjacent the udder which permits a man to put his head and shoulders freely and safely within the stall, since there is nothing to prevent his moving backward and away quickly if such should be necessary. This improvement is the subject of my continuation-in-part application Serial No. 122,999, filed Oct. 22, 1949.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 5 and 6, it will be seen that the end portions of the stall (the spacing between the posts ma and Iilb on the one hand and Ic and Illd on the other hand) are considerably narrower than the normal width of the cow, as indicated by the outline of a cow in Figure 6. The side of the stall facing the cow alley is made somewhat bowed, as may be best seen in these two gures. This side portion has two vertical posts I9a and IQb serving as hinge posts for the gates 20a and 2Gb, these extending somewhat inwardly (when in closed position) and being more sharply inwardly turned or curved near their end portions adapted to abut the posts IDb and IDC. I have found it desirable to have the gates occupy the principal portion of the length of the stall on the one side; for example, the posts I9a and |91) may be only 1 foot 6 inches apart out of a total stall length of 8 feet. Moreover, making the ends of the stall only about 2/3 the central width of the stall (as for example l foot 8 inches out of a total width of 2'feet 9 inches), and having the gates inwardly curved, has at least two advantages. In the rst place, `it enables the stall to be a snugger nt with respect to the normal width of a cow than has heretofore Vbeen possible, while maintaining proper freedom of entrance and eXit of the cow. This is advantageous, of course, in that it minimizes side movement by the cow during milking or stripping. In the second place, it enables parlor stalls to be placed end to end in a straight row, rather than in staggered or zigzag relationship as has heretofore been customary. In order to keep the width of the stall within reasonable limits it has heretofore vbeen deemed desirable to have the cow enterfrom the back of the stall, between the corner posts Illa and IIJb, which had to be appropriately spaced. By making the spacing between these end posts much narrower than the central width of the stall, however, it has been found that a cow will easily enter the stall when the gate 20a is in open position as shown in dotted lines in Figure 5. Moreover, the precise placement of the post I 9a is important, since it bears against the left side of the cow as she enters and causes her to swing her body around and line it up properly in the stall as she reaches for the feed in the bin I4; and the provision of a curved gate 23a enables the proper placement of the post I9a and the use of narrower spacing between the end plates while at the same time permitting the gate 20a to close (as shown in Figure 6) without rubbing against or squeezing the cow.

The upper ends of the posts 9a and ISb are preferably connected by overhead bracing members 2m and 2lb to an upper longitudinal pipe member 22 extending from the post Ib to the post Iic. Upwardly extending pipe or rod members 23a and 23h are mounted on and swingable with the gates 29a and 2Gb. The upper ends of these members are connected to links 24a and 24o connected to operating levers 25a and 25h mounted at the tops of coaxial members 26a and 26h, the former being a pipe member and the latter a rod member. These may be rotated by handle members 21a and 2lb on the operators side; and, as may be best seen in Figure 5, there is a toggle action of the parts in closed position which locks the gates closed. Adjustment of such toggle action to a desired locking force is effected by longitudinal adjustments 24a and 2419' in the links 24a and 24h.

While I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and: arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a parlor stall of the character described for retaining an animal while it is being milked and including end portions narrower than the normal width of said animal and two side portions, said side and end portions being connected to maintain a relationship providing a retaining enclosure for the animal while it is being milked, said side portions being spaced apart at their centers a distance only slightly greater than said normal width, structure comprising: a gate in one of said side portions hinged near the center of its side portion and having its swinging end portion inwardly curved toward the cooperating end portion of the stall.

2. In a parlor stall of the character described for retaining an animal while it is being milked and including end portions narrower than the normal width of said animal and two side portions, said side andend portions being connected to maintain a relationship providing a retaining enclosure for the animal while it is being milked, said side portions being spaced apart at Atheir centers a distance only slightly greater than said normal width, structure comprising: a pair of gates in one of said side portions each hinged near 5 the center of its side portion and having its swinging end portion inwardly curved toward the cooperating end portion of the stall, with each of said gates being located adjacent one of said end portions of the stall when said gates 10 are closed.

CHESTER A. THOMAS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the l5 file of this patent:

Number D. 90,4182 190,345 502,829 1,142,246 1,754,752 1,805,405 1,863,603 1,934,177 2,198,048 2,269,012

Number Great Britain Nov. 18, 1935 

